144 

^■<)I3 







0ass__SJll4i__ 
B()ok___Jl_lAi 




)\e 



The Future of Forestry 

In Kentucky 

And the South 




By J. E. BARTON, 

STATE FORESTER OF KENTUCKY 

FRANKFORT 



FRANKFORT. KY.. 

THE STATE JOURNAL CO. 

1913 



The Future of Forestry in Kentucky 
and the South 



By J. E. BARTON, 

State Forester of Kentucky. 

Reprinted from The Southern Lumberman, Nashville, 
Tenn., issue of December 21, 1912. 

Published by the direction of the State Board of 
Forestry. 

Governor James B. McCreary, 
Chairman. 

John W. Newman, 
Commissioner of Agriculture. 

Joseph H. Kastle, 
Director, Kentucky Experiment Station. 

Hon, Johnson N. Camden, 
Versailles. 

Hon. W. H. Mackoy, 
Covington, 

Mrs. Mason Maury, 
Louisville. 



0, OF i. 
APR 14 1918 



INTRODUCTION 



In the publication of this article as a bulletin for 
distribution throughout tlie State, the State Board of 
Forestry desires to put into the hands of as many in- 
dividuals as possible a statement in popular form of the 
scope of the work proposed along forestry lines by the 
Board and the reasons for and necessity of this work. 
It is realized that there is a desire on the part of a large 
number of people for information in this direction and 
it is hoped that this publication will in some degree meet 
this demand. 

Thanks are due the Southern Lumberman for per- 
mission to reprint the article and for the loan of the 
cuts used in its illustration. The United States Forest 
Service kindly furnished the photographs used in illu- 
minating the text. 



The Future of Forestry in Kentucky and the South 
By J. E. BARTON, 

State Foeester of Kentucky, Frankfort, Ky. 



The greatest single step forward in the South for 
the cause of the conservation of our national resources 
as a whole and forestry in particular was undoubtedly 
the Act of Congress approved March 1, 1911, which is 
usually termed the "Weeks Law." This act provided in 
general for the "maintenance of a perpetual growth of 
forest on the water sheds of navigable streams where 
such growth will materially aid in preventing floods, im- 
proving low waters, in preventing erosion of steep slopes 
and the silting up of the river channels, and thereby im- 
prove the flow of water for navigation," and the bill 
further provided that the Secretary of Agriculture may 
"stipulate and agree with any state or group of states 
to co-operate in the organization and maintenance of a 
system of fire protection on any private or state forest 
lands within such state or states and situated upon the 
water shed of a navigable river." 

The passage of this bill marked the success of a 
struggle wdiich has been carried on before Congress for 
years, for the passage of bills of like character had been 
previously vigorously opposed by certain interests. Now, 
while it is not to be supposed that the work looking to- 
ward the conservation of forests and stream flow had not 
been heretofore vigorously pushed in the various South- 
ern States, nevertheless, the passage of the "Weeks 
Law" indicated a positive and definite stand by the Fed- 
eral Government and, undoubtedly, did much to strength- 
en the work of the advocates of conservation throughout 
the South, since it offered a point to tie in to and fur- 
nished a concrete argument for like legislation in each of 
the Southern States. 

The effort in Kentucky to fornnilate into law a for- 
est policy stretches back almost a decade, during which 
a continually growing body of earnest men and women 



6 

have seen with dismliy the wide-spread depletion and 
waste of the forests of the state and have endeavored 
each year to secure the passage of a bill establishing a 
State Board of Forestrv and creating the office of State 
Forester. Finally, March 19, 1912, an act of the General 




Fifty-two Year Old Upland Forest, Original Growth 
Cut and Used in Iron Furnaces. 

Assembly was approved, establishing ^'a State Board of 
Forestry, prescribing its duties, and for conserving the 
forests and waters of the state and appropriating money 
therefor." The law was unusually well drawn up, and 
too much credit cannot be given to the men and women of 



Kentucky who labored so untiringly for the passage of 
the law. This act, together with acts creating a "Good 
Eoad Commission," a "Tuberculosis Commission," a 
"Fish and Game Commission," "Insurance Commis- 
sion," "Banking Commission," and others, reflect the 
greatest credit on the administration of Governor James 
B. McCreary and indicates him as one of the foremost 
men of the South in the advocacy of progressive legisla- 
tion. 

Time for Real Work at Hand. 

Upon the passage of this act the real work in for- 
estry in Kentucky was ready to begin, and on September 
1, 1 was appointed State Forester and assumed the duties 
of the office. In view of the fact that the last seven years 
had been spent by men in the Federal Forest Service in 
the Northwest, I found it hard at first to realize the 
changes that had taken place even in so short a period 
in the hardwood producing region of which Kentucky 
is the center, since within that brief span of years the 
production of hardwood by Kentucky and the South had 
climbed to its zenith and was passing to its decline. The 
condition then is surely alarming since it means not only 
the depletion and destruction of the state's forests and 
a great source of wealth, but it also means a serious dis- 
turbance in the industrial and economic conditions which 
are the outgrowth of the timber and lumber business. 

Kentucky's Position in Hardwood Industry. 

Let us take a survey of the situation as it applies 
specifically to Kentucky, since in view of the fact that, as 
I have heretofore said, Kentucky is the "hub of the 
greatest hardwood producing region in the world," the 
same reasoning can be extended to the balance of the 
South in general except the pineries which present many 
problems. There are several factors which make for 
Kentucky's supremacy in the hardwood producing in- 
dustry, and of these the chief are: 1. Geographical situ- 
ation with relation to the hardwood timber supply ; 2. 
Large variety in supply; 3. Cheap fuel supply; 4. Abund- 
ance of cheap transportation facilities; 5. Large and ac- 
cessible markets. These will be discussed in their order. 
Up to the present time the supply of hardwood has 



8 

seemed inexhaustible; for Kentucky, situated in the cen- 
ter of the Southern hardwood prodocing belt, has had not 
only her o\vn magnificent forests to draw from, but has 
made large drafts on the supplies in the neighboring- 
states. . But of late, plain indications are not wanting, 
even to the most casual observer, that the supply of tim- 
ber within the borders of the State is diminishing. River 
points which formerly supported several saw mills are 




Western Kentucky Hardwood Forest 
Where Fire Has Not Entered 



now practically deserted, or are completely abandoned. 
Where it was once no uncommon sight to see large rafts 
of logs go floating down the rivers to the manufactur- 
ing points, this has now become an unusual and occa- 
tional sight. Also timber which is now being cut indi- 
cates that the best has been culled from the forests and 
that it is now a question of taking whatever can be used. 
The forests of Kentucky and the Southern hardwood 
region furnished an almost indefinite variety of species, 



9 

and this exceeding richness of variety has added to the 
value and diversity of the manufactured products, since 
almost any demand could be fulfilled which might exist. 
The oaks, walnut, gums and others furnished the finest 
character of timber for finishing lumber and furniture; 
the tulip poplar, basswood, magnolias furnished a soft, 
clear, easily worked lumber for a large range of uses; 
the oaks and hickories have furnished unexcelled mate- 
rial for the vehicle industry; the varieties are as in- 
numerable as the uses to which they are put. The beau- 
ty, diversity, and usefulness of the Kentucky timber sup- 
ply is practically unexcelled. The third factor in build- 
ing up the hardwood manufacturing industries in Ken- 
tucky has been the abundance of cheap fuel, for both the 
eastern and the western ends of the state are underlaid 
with large coal deposits of the best grades of bituminous 
coal, so situated that it is readily mined and easily ac- 
cessible. The extent of the coal in Kentucky, coupled 
with the ease of working it, has rendered a cheap fuel 
supply indefinitely available. Again the facilities for 
cheap transportation have been on hand throughout Ken- 
tucky and the neighboring states, with the result that it 
has been an easy matter to get the raw material and fuel 
to the manufacturing centers and to ship the manufac- 
tured products to the markets. The rivers of Kentucky 
form a network of arteries within and circumscribing her 
borders down which the timber and lumber has been 
floated and driven or transported in barges and rafts to 
the mills, and the fuel has come through the same chan- 
nels. The Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, 
Green, Big Sandy, Tradewater Rivers and others have 
all played their part in this moving drama. Then the 
numerous railroads of the state as they have developed 
have continually opened up new fields, continually added 
their quota to the flow of fuel and raw materials to the 
centers of manufacturing. Also in like manner these 
agencies have entered just as much into the distribution 
of the manufactured products throughout the Common- 
wealth and the country in general. Always there has 
been the two streams, the flow of fuel and raw material 
to the manufacturing centers and the flow of finished 
products to the markets of the world. It was not far 
to go for market either, since large distributing points 



10 




Waste in Logging— In First Picture a 20-inch Poplar was felled to Dis- 
lodge an Oak Tree and left Unused. In other Picture note 
amount of Sound Oak Timber left in Unused Top. 



11 

were witliin a comparatively small radius, and the de- 
mand for the character of manufactures involved was 
stable and reliable. 

Lumber and Woodworking Industries of the State. 

Attention has been called to these factors in detail 
because they have served to build up the lumber and 
woodworking industries within the state to their now 
commanding proportions and consequently have served 
to deplete to their present condition the forests of the 
state; but again they are the very factors which make 
possilole the initiation of a forest policy within the state 
which shall have a sound economic and industrial basis, 
without which any forest policy is vain, indeed. Lum- 
bering witliin Kentucky, as everywhere, has up to 
the present time been conducted with the lavish prodi- 
gality typical of the American people, and this prodigal- 
ity was largely the result of conditions which the lumber- 
man had to meet. A waste naturally resulted, and this 
was largely unavoidable under the then existing condi- 
tions ; but the face of conditions has changed and the time 
is ripe economically for the practice of forestry, which 
largely, so far as the lumberman and timber owner is con- 
cerned, means conservative logging and manufacture and 
the closest character of timber utilization, together with 
the most adequate protection to the existing forest. 

I 
Kentucky's Consumption of Hardwoods. 

Kentucky today consumes in round numbers over 
400,000,000 feet of timber annually, about one-half of 
which comes from her own forests and one-half of which 
is imported from the neighboring states. Approximate- 
ly $10,000,000 is paid annually for this raw material. 
"When one figures how much is spent in the manufacture 
of this raw material and the transportation of the man- 
ufactured product, he will have a fair idea of how much 
the timber industry means to Kentucky from an indus- 
trial and commercial standpoint. Yet from ]909 to 1910 
the production of lumber cut within the state fell off 
I2V2 per cent. The result of this depletion will ultimate- 
ly be that the wood using industries will have to move to 




View Showing Effect of Deforestation an 




osion on Hill Slope in Western North Carolina. 



14 

new fields or ship their raw material from increasing dis- 
tances, either proposition involving- financial loss to the 
state and increased cost to the consumer. Further, the 
coal mining industrj^ within the state is growing each 
year as new fields are opened up and this industry alone 
consumes about an average of Si/o feet board measure for 
every ton of coal mined. The forest problem for Ken- 
tucky then is to create as nearly a balance as may be be- 
tween the amount of timber consumed annually and that 
produced each year. Surely a herculean task! 

FoEEST Fires a Source of Great Loss. 

In tackling this problem, as in dealing Avith any bus- 
iness, the first thing to do is to look for leaks and waste, 
and we find leakage and waste on every hand. One of 
the greatest sources of these is forest fires, which occur 
annually throughout the state. No steps are taken to 
prevent these fires, yet the damage they do to standing 
timber and young grow^th is incalculable. Leaving out 
of the consideration young growth, fires damage mature 
timber by actual destruction, by lowering the grades, by 
offering points of attack for insects and subsequent fun- 
gus decay. Fires also destroy the soil fertility and 
greatly lower the productive capacity of the forest area. 
Here then is a big leak in our business and an actual 
waste. It is a waste, however, that can be mitigated in 
a large degree, for forest fires are largely preventable, 
as has been adequately shown in the various sections of 
the country, particularly the Northwest, where the close 
co-operation of the timberland owners, the railroads, the 
state and the Federal Forest Service has resulted in a 
notable diminution of serious fires. The proposition of 
dealing with forest fires presents the same features as 
dealing with fires in a city. The first aim in a munici- 
pality "is so to build and manage the city that there will 
be a minimum of fire hazard, the second is to suppress 
what fires occur in their incipiency, and the third and 
last aim is to deal adequately with large fires which may 
get underway in spite of the greatest care. In a state 
such as Kentucky, wdth valuable wooded and forested 
areas, exactly the same thing must be done. The timber- 
lands must be managed so that there will occur a mini- 



15 

mum of fires. This we propose to accomplish by a cam- 
paign of education wherein the economic losses to the 
community from forest fires are made clear; by securing 
the co-operation and support of all the interests adverse- 
ly affected by forest fires and of all good citizens of the 
state; and lastly by organizing a system for patrol of 
forested areas during tlie danger seasons and the ade- 
quate suppression of such fires as occur in their earlier 
stages. 

Incomplete Utilization is Another Waste. 

Another source of waste is incomplete utilization, 
and this usually occurs in the actual logging operations. 
It is a remarkal)le fact, but one capable of ample demon- 
stration, that whereas the manufacture of timber at the 
mill and the disposal of the manufactured product has 
been so completely systemized -and organized that the 
least leakage or w^aste can be detected by the manufac- 
turer, yet the woods end of the lumbering business is 
the most haphazard kind of an operation for the most 
part, and very few operators can give you any accurate 
idea of how much the various steps of their w^oods opera- 
tions are costing. Here then it is probable that a big- 
waste occurs. It does as a usual thing, and in these ways. 
Very rarely is the attention given to laying out woods 
roads that they deserve. Since a logging operation 
makes or loses, ordinarily, by the cost of the transporta- 
tion of the material, too great care cannot be used in the 
laying out of the main haul roads. In one operation, 
which came under my observation, the cost per thousand 
feet of placing the logs at the mill was reduced one-half 
by the expenditure of a few^ extra dollars at the start in 
laying out the main haul road. With the cost of trans- 
portation reduced to a minimum a large amount of tim- 
ber can be cut and taken to the mill which ordinarily it 
w^ould not pay to handle. Again, all material should be 
cut and taken out which is available. This is the simplest 
economy, since the cost per mile per thousand feet of 
roads and transportation is reduced in proportion as the 
amount of material removed is increased. This can only 
be accomplished by the most careful wood supervision, 
which ordinarily is not given or considered necessary. 
The contract system, so universally in vogue in woods 



16 




17 

operations in Kentucky and the Soutli, is vicious beyond 
expression. The next source of waste is one which is not 
plain to the casual observer, and that is lack of foresight 
for the rapid regeneration of cutover areas. In the or- 
dinary woods operation no thought is directed to the fu- 
ture of the forest, with the result that large quantities of 
healthy young growth is needlessly destroyed, the tim- 
ber is not cut at a time of year when regeneration from 
sprouts may be secured, and the brush and debris is left 
on the ground in such a condition as to be a serious 
menace to the remaining stanch Again, no seed trees are 
left, where natural seeding is to be depended upon for re- 
stocking the area, and lastly live stock are allowed to 
graze over the area so that quantities of nuts, seeds and 
young growth are destroyed. The chief sources of waste, 
as I have said, are in the logging operations, but some 
waste undoubtedly occurs in the mill operation by failure 
to use certain classes of apparently useless material in 
the manufacture of by-products. 

It has been pointed out that the very features which 
have been paramount in hastening the alarming exploita- 
tion of Kentucky's timber supply are also the features 
which will make for the building up of the forests of the 
state, since with cheap fuel and transportation and good 
markets, it is a practical business proposition to insist 
upon complete utilization of our supply on hand and 
raise thereby the productive capacity of our forests. 
For instance, in harvesting the timber on coal lands, it 
is not industrial economy to cut up into mine timbers 
trees which can be utilized for more valuable products 
and leave on the ground as culls timber which will make 
satisfactory mining props, stulls, etc., jvist because it is 
slightly easier for the woods laborer to work up the first- 
class material. But in addition to this, Ave have got to 
have an active constructive forest policy throughout the 
state, and the basis of this is protection, as has been pre- 
viously outlined, protection from fire and from live stock. 
Even a casual survey of the forests of Kentucky shows 
that they are depleted in two ways, in quantity and sec- 
ond in quality and kind. The ordinary forested area is 
not fully stocked, which means that certain ground is 
merely dead capital. All our forests areas should be 
stocked to their full capacity, which is usually about a 



18 







P 






19 

hundred per cent increase over the material on the 
ground. In regard to the method of securing a full- 
stocked area, I sliall not be able to enter into details in 
this article, since tliis is largely a question of the silvi- 
cultural methods applicable to individual tracts and can 
only be determined after an examination of the area. 
Again, our forests have deteriorated most perceptibly in 
the kind and quality of timber produced. Where are the 
magnificent forests of white oak, tulip poplar, walnut 
and other valuable species. Gone, absolutely gone ! The 
quality and kind of the material plays a very decided 
part in any scheme of reforestration, for we must con- 
tinually bear this in mind, that we are raising our trees 
with the expectation of marketing them eventually, and 
we want to raise what we can sell most readily, and we 
want to do this in the shortest space of time. We have 
first, then, to study the varieties of trees indigenous to 
the state to find out what varieties grow most rapidly 
and lend themselves most readily to cultivation on the 
soils available, and next we must scrutinize carefully the 
present markets and forecast as sagely as we can the fu- 
ture markets. So far as my observation goes, it will be 
wise in Kentucky to confine our future forest crops to a 
few varieties which have well defined qualities of com- 
mercial importance. Among this list I may include sev- 
eral varieties of ash, oaks and hickories, one or two gums, 
basswood or linn, tulip poplar, chestnut (if the course 
of the chestnut blight is cheeked), black locust, and, 
among the conifers, white pine and short-leaf pine. 

The A'ery latest movement in agriculture has been to 
bring the most approved scientific methods of agricul- 
ture to the very door of the farmer by demonstration 
farms in his county and expert demonstrators who will 
be available to minister to his individual needs. It is 
axiomatic with children, and the same thing applies to 
adults, that they learn more easily from concrete exam- 
ples than from any abstract line of reasoning. This is 
particularly true as regards the progress of forestry in 
Kentucky and in the South. We want state forest re- 
serv-es upon which we can demonstrate ocularly the ma- 
terial benefits of scientific forestry, since in no other 
way can this be done as quickly and convincingly. We 
want to establish nuseries in which good trees of stand- 



20 

ard varieties can be raised and furnished to the people 
of the state at cost. We expect to do this by obtaining, 
either by purchase or gift, suitable areas within the 
state. One area which will be utilized as a small demon- 
stration nursery and forest is twenty acres at the State 
Fair Grounds at Louisville, which will be accessible as 
a practical demonstration each year to thousands of vis- 
itors. Earlier in this article I mentioned tlie consump- 
tion of wood in the coal industiy (approximately 3i/> 
feet board measure for every ton of coal mined). It 
seems to me that on the timbered coal lands of Kentucky 
is one of the best chances for demonstrating the practical 
utility of scientific forestry and we cannot afford to lose 
sight of the fact that to the vast bulk of the people it is 
still a matter for demonstration. The coal lands are a 
long-time investment, and the mine operator desires a 
sustained annual yield of timber for his mine, both of 
which premises are fundamental in scientiiic forest man- 
agement. It will then be the object of the development 
of forestry in Ketnucky to get coal land owners inter- 
ested in practical forestry and secure co-operation be- 
tween them and the office of the State Forester and 
among themselves in attaining this end. 

Welfare of Streams and Forests. 

Thus far in this article attention has been directed 
entirely to the forests of the state and the lines which 
their proposed development should take, but there is an- 
other feature of the matter which has equal weight and 
significance, and that is the water of the state. In a re- 
cent address before the Rivers and Harbors Congress in 
Washington, D. C, President Taft lays stress on the 
fact that in the regulation and conservation of stream 
flow the part played by the forests at the head of the 
streams is a vital one, and surely not to be overlooked. 
The welfare of waters and streams of the state, both from 
the mechanical and sanitary point of view, is ultimately 
linked with the welfare of the forests, and the office of 
the State Forester in Kentucky is charged with the over- 
sight of both. Everywhere are evidences of the interre- 
lation of the forests and waters of the Commonwealth, 
the denudation of the hills and mountains, the conse- 



21 

qiient erosion of slopes and the snbsequent floods and 
silting np of the streams speak eloquently of the need of 
regulation and conservation. In Kentucky — in practi- 
cally every state — there are certain areas and, ofttime 
regions, which are ])rimarily what may be termed abso- 
lute forest land; that is, land upon which, taking into 
consideration all economic questions involved, should be 
perpetually maintained a forest cover. These lands 
are, as a ru'e, in the mountain region at the headwaters 
of the streams and rivers. It is a mistake to maintain in 
forest cover land which is more valuable for agriculture, 
all things considered. It is just as much an economical 
blunder to try to cultivate land when the result of such 
cultivation is an actual loss far outbalancing the money 
value of the agricultural crops ol)tained from the land. 
The problem, so far as Kentucky and the Southern 
States generally are concerned, is not more hind to cul- 
tivate, Init the scientific cultivation of the land which is 
obviously agricultui'al land and the restoration to forest 
cover of land which is obviously non-agricultural land. 

Some Things Which Need Emphasis. 

Now, as to the practice of forestry in the state, there 
are some things which unquestionably need em])hasis. 
Pure forestry is a business and must stand or fall on our 
ability to reduce its practice to a question of dollars and 
cents. That forestry is a good investment from this 
point of view, not only in the matter of direct returns, 
but also in the matter of indirect returns, is beyond 
question. It must be borne in mind, however, that this 
is a long-time investment and is not ordinarily a proy^o- 
sition for the private individual. It is a matter for the 
Federal Government, the states, municipalities and long- 
time corporations (such as railroads, coal land compa- 
nies, etc.). Only in certain phases does it recommend 
itself as an investment for yirivate individuals, as in the 
raising of fence posts, wind breaks, or a maple sugar 
grove on the farm, or where it is desired to increase the 
ultimate value of the property by the presence of a 
healthy young grove of trees on the place. The positive 
and direct benefits of a concrete forest policy in Ken- 
tucky then will be an increase in the forest area of the 



22 . 

state and pronounced increased productivity of the pres- 
ent suitable forested areas as a wliole, with a consequent 
tangible revenue from the forest crops. The more im- 
portant indirect benefits will be the resultant regulation 
and purification of stream flow and the increased health- 
fulness of the people of the state as a whole. 

To recapitulate, Kentucky is the center of the 
Southern hardwood region ; her forests have been rapid- 
ly exploited because of certain favorable industrial con- 
ditions, with a consequent diminution of the supply; the 
result will be a great economic loss to the state unless 
steps are taken to restore a balance between supply and 
demand ; the waters of the state are in need of regulation 
and purification. The application of scientific forestry 
to the large wooded areas will increase the productivity 
of the wooded areas enormously, with a consequent ben- 
efit to the streams of the state ; the time is now ripe for 
the vigorous prosecution of this work; the practice of 
forestry is a business proposition and a paying invest- 
ment, but is not under ordinary conditions a proposition 
for small individual owners. 

Applied to Other Southern States. , ; 

What has been said in this article relates to the fu- 
ture of forestry in Kentucky in particular, but there is 
nothing in it which cannot be applied with equal force to 
the Southern states as a whole. A large share of the 
Appalachian region is within the borders of the South 
and the Southern hardwood region stretches from the 
Atlantic seaboard through Missouri and Arkansis, and 
from Maryland and Virginia, Southern Indiana and 
Illinois soutli to the Gulf. The conditions do not differ 
materially throughout this region and its importance 
from an individual and commercial standpoint cannot be 
overestimated because of the vast timber supplies which 
do now and will hereafter come from this region, and 
because of the close interrelation between the forested 
areas and the great rivers of the region, the Ohio, Cum- 
berland, Tennessee, Red and others. The indirect ben- 
efits of a forest policy in the Soutli are as far-reaching as 
the direct benefits. In a few of the Southern states the 
movement for the conservation of the forests and waters 



23 

is either well organized or lias assumed the form of a con- 
crete forest policy, but since the region embraces the 
states as a whole and the conservation problem applies 
equally to all the states, and will eventually involve co- 
operation among the states, there sliould be an earnest 
endeavor in those states which have not already done so 
to crystallize into law a definite forest policy. This is 
essential if we are to have an adequate control of our 
floods and rivers and a solution of the annually recurring 
Mississippi flood problem. 



Syracuse. N. Y. 

PAT. JftN. 21. 190S 



